ESCAPE! (post-TFP)
by Darst
Summary: Soundwave in Shadowzone.
1. Chapter 1

Soundless.  
That was what creeped him out.

Whatever it was where he was now it was completely void of sounds other than those he produced himself. This cosmic silence around him was... hell.  
Most of his long existence Soundwave had spent watching and listening others talk, transmit, act - live! ... and die.

He cruelly replayed the scene of his one true master's death at a hand of some lowly autobot - not even a Prime! - and made himself look it through as it unfolded before his optics.  
Rage shook through Soundwave circuits as he watched his lord's lifeless cask slide off the deck and begin its deceptively slow descend. He surged after it, transforming on the way and quickly caught up with it, but Megatron slipped through his wings without even slowing down.

The steel plates were red-hot from the friction with the athmosphere, but Soundwave remained cold and couldn't perceive the heat.

Eleven more times did the spy catch up with his master's corpse, transformed and tried to stop its fall. Eleven more times he failed. As Megatron's chassis collided with the planetary surface, Soundwave reached him the last time. The explosion didn't hurt them. Megatron could feel pain no more, and Soundwave was _elsewhere_.

He was unaware how much time he had spent in the crater, talking to his fallen comrade. He stopped recording and he wasn't sure his internal clock was correct anymore.

When he looked up, Nemesis was already gone. The navy con was still seething rage.

How dared he?! How dared he die?! Megatron of all cons! Killed off like some nonsense eradicon, nearly stabbed in the back. With an oversized knife that wasn't even ACTIVE!  
Rage made Soundwave erupt in a sonic burst, ripping apart the blasted silence of this netherworld. There wasn't even an echo.

He calmed down eventually. He had to. Laserbeak pinged him - she was alright it seemed, though it had taken her time to recover from the shock of bridging here. If he lost it, she would panic. Logically, he had to calm down.  
He would address this... predicament... like a sane and sound 'con he was.  
Soundwave turned his back to Megatron's cask and sat down for some probability calculations.  
/Possibility 1. I have perished in the bridges cross-stream and this... horror is my post-mortem hallucination./  
Laserbeake pinged him ironically.  
/ Yes, you are right. We would hardly be together as you surely would join the Allspark, Laserbeak. However, you may be just another hallucination of mine/

A slight power shock the drone passed him ensured no hallucination was taking place  
/...or I am too deep into it for the matter of reality to be of significance./

Soundwave turned to look at Megatron. The warlord was as lifeless as few clicks ago.

/Probability 2. I fell victim to a fellow prank, I may be hooked up to the neuro-cortical patch right now, with all of them laughing at my turmoil./  
Laserbeak pinged him sceptically.  
"You should have done a better job with environment modelling! This here is too pristine to be true!" - he yelled.

Laserbeak pinged him sympathetically.  
/I am not in denial, Laserbeak. There is nothing to deny/

Laserbeak's silence was screaming.

/Probability 3. The crossing streams shifted my phase. And I have no phase shifter to shift it back. And there is no adaptable control... Except, I still would be visible, if that had been the case./

Soundwave waited a little, but the drone was silent. The spy ran his fingers across Laserbeak's back and the drone vibrated slightly, responding to the touch. Still with him, then. Good.

/Probability 4. I did shift... but not a phase. The bridges sucked me in and brought me back... to the same place... in a different place.  
If this is what a parallel universe is, I want no part in it./

Laserbeak pinged him suggestively.  
/Yes, we will recon. After we're done with the basics. It's not like we have any urgent business now/  
He turned to look at Megatron. The warlord was as lifeless as few clicks ago.

/Probability 5... scrap it, this is absolutely improbable./

He assessed his resources: energon circuits 64% full, Laserbeak's - 72%. Built-in bridging devices - seemed operational. However, he needed coördinates to bridge and those were eluding him. He decided not to waste energon on a test run.

He couldn't position himself and define the coordinates, but perhaps he could find some familiar landmark, something he had on his maps... then he'd bridge the hell out of here.

/Laserbeak, eject. Operation:Recon. /

The drone detached and flew up. While he waited, Soundwave set to scan the frequencies.


	2. Chapter 2

Con frequencies were dead. As were the high frequencies both factions used. Soundwave turned to assumed autobot range, but dead silence was all there was. He would hardly be able to decode 'bot frequencies, but he should have been able to detect them at least.

A distressed ping from Laserbeak interrupted his scan. The drone seemed disoriented and requested navigation aid. Soundwave quickly pinpointed her on the radar - she didn't fly far. In fact, she should have been much further according to the flight logs Laserbeak passed him. He guided her back to him, marvelling at how her speed seemed to change while in fact it was steady.

Some kind of space distortion it would seem. It was a long time since he had last encountered a space distortion big enough to be of significance. The drone landed on the grass beside him and pinged him with fear.

Soundwave reached down to pat her wings. /Fear not, Laserbeak. Nothing mystical here. I've seen it before/

He attuned his equipment to assess the gravity fields then. The data he got made him disconnect from Laserbeak to hide his own distress. The matter - the space seemed to lock onto itself in an infinite loop, threaded through itself like a string through the needle in what appeared to be a singularity.

That must have been their entrance point.

The spy motioned the drone to attach to her place on his armor, transformed and flew up to the space bottleneck. He felt distortion, but his hull was strong enough not to bend under this gravity disruption. He paused at the calculated event horizon. The pull was strong and he would hardly be able to withstand it past this point. Laserbeak pinged him with panic. He sent her a calming package and rushed toward the blackness of the singularity.

He didn't quite perceive what happened. One moment of blackness and he was rushing _from_ the entry point back toward Megatron's landing point. To rule out a stupid mistake, Soundwave turned back and aimed for the very center of blackness again - and he flew through with the same result.

So... the space had been looped!  
He transformed and landed - there were massive calculations to be done. As a final check he reached to touch Megatron's corpse. His fingers slid through it.

Laserbeak pinged him questioningly.  
/Not sure yet/ he responded, bending down to poke at the ground. The ground was solid.  
/I didn't finish the frequencies scan. Check the human ranges while I adjust my calculus/

He was busy for the rest of the day. And the night. And another day. Laserbeak pinged him with agitation, but he responded with a "desist" package, unwilling to stop his work. Changing constants re-defined all his thinking. He made sure to backup everything for when they would return into normal dimension and that required a lot of storage capacity. He even had to remove some of his memories and now he had hard time deciding which ones he should let go. Of course, he did have a backup archive in Nemesis databanks - which is why he didn't hesitate to crush his drives when autobots tried to scare him. However, he could count no more on restore from backup. Who knows where Nemesis was now and what autobots did to it?

Laserbeak pinged him repeatedly.  
/What?!/  
Instead of answer, Laserbeak filled the air with intercepted cellular signals. There was something strange about them, but they were definitely human. This needed interrogation, but the basics had upper priority. /Good job. Rest./

It took him two more days to examine his memories and define which of them he could erase. He ended up letting go of Rumble and Frenzy - he was reluctant to do it first, but they had no significance other than emotional attachment and it was rational to sacrifice it for practical and useful things. He kept their blueprints though.

Once the new mathematical model of the universe was installed and tested (he made Laserbeak fly around this dimensional pocket and was satisfied that no contradictory measurements were registered), the communications chief turned his attention to human waves.

With the next sunrise Laserbeak returned onlined and pinged him with curiosity.

/Yes, I do have a working theory. The crossed streams interlaced and created an infinite loophole mixing a part of parallel universe with ours. We were unlucky to be part of the mixed matter. This dimensional pocket doesn't really belong to neither universes, it's a transitional zone that got locked onto itself. And this transitional zone is small. We fell through a wormhole and the only way out would be back through the bottleneck. The problem is, it appears to be a klein-bottle. There is no out, there is only in./

Laserbeak trembled and he traced her wings to calm her down a little. Truth to be told, he was awed by these results as well. He threw a quick glance toward Megatron's cask. The dead body didn't change a bit. Soundwave ex-vented and continued:

/We perceive our universe in light and radio waves frequencies. We can't make contact because of time-space shift. And it seems that cybertronians have left this planet. We're on our own./

The next ping from Laserbeak carried over a dawning hope she nursed

/Yes, I think I know how./


	3. Chapter 3

/Yes, I think I know how/ - Soundwave repeated without even taking notice. He had been up and running all this time and all the mental concentration and shock of everything that happened on Nemesis and after were  
taking their toll on him. Yet, he was determined not to linger in this... shadowzone one nanoclick longer than absolutely necessary.

He glanced at Megatron. The warlord was as lifeless as he had been all this time. Soundwave had to get out. If not for any other reason, then at least to make sure his lord was beyond rescue.

Laserbeak pinged him with worry. Soundwave realised he didn't pass over the details of his plan.

/I am positive a precise bridge vortex opened in the point of singularity will reverse the particles' flow and enable us to step back through./

Laserbeak's answering ping was filled with doubt. Soundwave gestured irritably /Either it does or it doesn't. Simple as that/

The drone attached herself to her docking ports on Soundwave's armor as the spy checked his calculations one last time before surging up .  
He wasn't sure how long he would be able to keep the portal open - energy consumption wasn't an issue normally, but under these weird physical conditions... there was really no telling how energy consuming this  
endeavour would be.

To minimize the time needed he decided to get to the event horizon first. He sped up and invoked the portal.

Maybe that hadn't been the best idea.

The flash was equivalent to three or four ton energon explosion, momentarily blinding his visual receptors. The blast that hit him a nanoclick later offlined him altogether. Perimeter sensors reported excessive armor damage, but there was no one home to receive their message.

Laserbeak was the first to return online. She pinged him, but he was not responding. Even through space distortion, Laserbeak was able to determine that they were speeding toward the ground. The drone panicked and fluttered heer wings against Soundwave's armor, but then she gather her wits and detached from her knocked out master. The drone caught his narrow wings with her taw-claws and tried to slow down their fall.

Soundwave was too heavy for her. But she did her best. The ground seemed further away than it was - blasted space distortion was still affecting Laserbeak's navigation - the drone was much simpler than her creator, the basic math was hardwired into her, there was no changing it. In this perverted space Laserbeak had to rely on Soundwave to navigate her way around. And now he was the one in need of assist.

Sensing an inevitable crush, the little flyer yelled on all available frequencies on top of her transmitting powers. Soundwave didn't respond. Nanoclick apart of the crush, Laserbeak sent a "sorry" ping and shocked her host through her feelers.

Electric blast did what other efforts failed to - it invoked middleware danger protocols and triggered emergency transformation. Unable to let go of her host, Laserbeak got her feelers tangled with the navy mech limbs just  
before they both hit the ground.

A faint, but unmistakable smell of energon filled the air.  
Soundwave onlined in complete darkness and first assessed his damage. He spotted a small energon leak under the knee-joint and shut that part of circuitry down. It wasn't severe as he only lost 2 percent of his energon reserves so far. But he knew the danger of ignoring the tiniest leaks. Self-repair nanos should be able to fix it given time. The damage reports mainly listed his peds armor and wings, they did not account for the darkness his visual receptors registered.  
/Laserbeak../  
The drone responded instantly flooding the link with her relief. Soundwave waited a few clicks to let her express her emotions. When the intensity of it subsided, he sent her a few grateful and reassuring packages.

/Status report?/

Laserbeak passed over her own damage assessment. The drone was practically unharmed, a few dents on her wings aside.

/Where are we?/

Laserbeak passed over her flight logs of their ungracious fall. It made no sense. The spy was now lying face up, and he should be able to perceive... at least something. He probed the surface he was lying on with a feeler. It was mud. And small rocks.  
He lit up his headlight. The darkness didn't shift a bit.

/Do you have a visual?/ Laserbeak pinged him back negatively.

Soundwave knew he should restrain from moving and let the self-repair nanos do their job, but the dawning understanding of his whereabouts was so distressing, that he couldn't lie still.  
He rolled to the side and rose up, pushing himself off the ground.

A guess turned to knowledge and he rushed from the spot, ignoring the warning messages that popped up. Only when he was out of the crater he trusted himself to look back. Megatrons corpse was as motionless as before. Inside and outside.

Soundwave broke and overrode all thoughts about him occupying the same space as Megatron's body _on the other side_. To keep himself busy, he carefully shifted his plated around to let Laserbeak retract her feelers, which she hastily did. Yet he kept throwing glances back into the crater.

Laserbeak pinged him with understanding and mild concern.  
/Yes, you're right. I shall recharge and think of another way out later/


	4. Chapter 4

Was it because of the wounds or the mental stress of it all, or - quite possible as well - due to twisted time-space in this dimensional abnormality, but Soundwave stayed offline for four solar cycles - unprecedentedly long for a recharge.

Laserbeak didn't trust herself to fly around while he was offline. Instead, the drone settled to watch atop a rock overshadowing Soundwave's improvised berth. Not that there had been anything to watch out for. Distant and distorted human signals were all she was getting from the air. In this forsaken place rust seemed to be their biggest foe.

When Soundwave finally onlined and stirred, Laserbeak pinged him cheerfully. She was glad to have company at last.

/Anything to report?/ - her response was negative but Soundwave expected that much. In case of any abnormality, she would trigger an emergency recharge interruption sequence. The spy assessed the repairs that his nanos completed while he was out and found it satisfactory. It cost him about forty percent of his self-repair capacity but it was worth it. There was no use in sparing nanos in favor of possible injuries in the future while he had been leaking here and now.

He restored energon circulation in his repaired leg and rose. The rebuilt joint was tender but it held him. Laserbeak watched him shift his weight, testing his systems and pinged him impatiently.

Soundwave transmitted her his speculations:

/Math aside, the most probable cause of the explosion is the loop itself. I still think a bridge would do the trick, but the alignment was wrong/

Laserbeak pinged him with encouragement

/It is impossible to break it from the inside. We need to open a bridge from the outside. Come/ The drone attached herself to his armor and Soundwave started walking, sharing his thoughts as he went.

/We don't know what happened to Nemesis and how to reach it, the ship's groundbridge is unavailable. Earth is not cyberforming, that makes a valid assumption that Shockwave is not controlling the Omega lock anymore. Autobots must have seized control over the ship.../ anger rose, and Soundwave de-prioritized emotions to continue

/Current Nemesis location - unknown. Means to uncover it - absent./

Laserbeak shuddered and Soundwave petted her wings to calm the drone down.

/ However, the space bridge on the orbit has no onsite controls. It is unknown if the autobots seized control of that facility, but if they control the ship, they also control the spacebridge, whether aware of it or not. It is also unknown if the 'bots are still lurking around the Harbinger. Potentially, we have four bridges within operating distance. Two with Nemesis gone. Autobots are only eight, they can't control them all. And after MECH, it would be extremely stupid for them to let humans anywhere near this technology./

He stopped and stood still for several clicks. Laserbeak didn't disturb him, knowing well that this meant her host was compiling some complex code. The moment Soundwave stirred again, the link between them was filled with code. /Patch up your decoder. Lock onto agent Fowler's cellphone and those of the kids. We need to know bots dispositions. And the outcome of the battle. And whether Shockwave is still functioning./

Laserbeak pinged him with query and underlying delight at having something to do.

/Yes, Starscream, too. Anything. And GPS them, even if it makes no sense/

Soundwave stopped at the edge of the crater and looked down. Megatron was as lifeless as before. The spy carefully walked down the slope and sat a couple of dozens feet away from his late master.

/We set camp here/

Laserbeak pinged him back with negative figures of comfort.

/We sat camp here. I need Megatron./ Soundwave said and then added /I need him for one thing he always did best and still can do for me.../

Not waiting for Laserbeak to flood him with her nagging curiosity - like he knew she would, he explained: /He gives me purpose. Motivation. Determination. Inspiration./

Laserbeak pinged him back with understanding.

Before turning all his attention to 3G signals, Soundwave whispered "To the pits of hell and back, if needed" - the vow he gave tohis leader when Megatron branded him with the decepticon symbol what now seemed to be an eternity ago. Looked like the time was now, and "back" was needed indeed.

Clicks had passed and turned to orns and then cycles. Little by little, a short message here, a slip of word there and the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle were slowly coming together.

Outside this silent hell the human planet was bustling with life, with light and sound, unaware how close this world had come to its annihilation. Those who did know were too elated to maintain their former guerilla lifestyle. Humans had paperwork to file. Paperwork was stored in databanks. Databanks were hidden behind firewalls. Soundwave had always found human firewalls adorable - so naive. So fragile!

Less than a week after agent Fowler had filed his top classified, ad hoc report on autobots' utter and complete victory, it's content unfolded on Soundwave's visor.


	5. Chapter 5

Agent Fowler's report turned out to be quite informative. Soundwave shared his findings with his companion. After a few clicks of them both processing the info, Laserbeak commed him with a question sign.

/I have a few thoughts/ - Soundwave answered. She waited for him to continue, but he didn't. Instead, he asked /How do you feel about autobots restoring Cybertron instead of us?/ Laserbeak instantly responded with a wave of anger.

/Yes. Me too... keep monitoring their humans/

Megatron once said "Treachery lies at the core of all beings - whether they realise it or not. You just have to find it". So Soundwave kept looking. Hidden in this netherworld, he was untraceable as he plugged into thousands of mobile phones and 3g devices at once - let them humans puzzle over inexplanable surges of internet traffic and plague their providers with claims, Soundwave didn't fear to disclose himself - what did he have to lose? Let autobots come to finish him off - that would only mean he would get out, scrapping them on the way.

Soundwave knew what, or rather who he wanted to find. Humans were so naive! A whole bunch of them spent their useless lives trying to track down aliens on Earth. These guys would do anything for him if he would lead them on...

First off, the bait. A slightly blurred photo of the Harbinger's landing site on UFOlogists forum... and a message - "assembling a research party to investigate".

A solar cycle passed. Laserbeak reported 'bot human allies phone activity. They were traceable and stayed in one area for the most of the day, until they all gathered together and moved to some location, where their signals disappeared only to appear a few minutes later at several hundred miles east. Soundwave looked up the coordinates at which gps signals disappeared. It was an empty spot in the desert just outside Jasper. The destination coordinates loosely matched the coordinates he provided to Starscream for his failed autobot base assault.

/Starscream, you incompetent fool!/ If not for the Seeker's mistake, they might have been celebrating victory now instead of their current predicament! Laserbeak sent him a soothing wave. Soundwave responded with irritation. He didn't need to be calmed down like a sparkling. Her answering ping was apologethical. Soundwave ex-vented. He now had one more reason to escape - one more face to punch.

The spy checked his bait on the forum. Surprisingly, the Harbinger photo had been replaced by a familiar dancing mouse gif. Several snarky comments regarding investigating mice indicated that the change had been made not long after Soundwave posted the initial pic. It took the mech a while to find a match for the picture - he had last seen this ugly squeaking thing when Starscream had claimed he found an autobot' sighting. Interesting.

Soundwave deleted the initial post and posted the photo anew. He hacked into the forum database, waiting for the change to occur. /Laserbeak, report autobot humans location/

Laserbeak passed him the gps data. The trio was together and moving toward the presumed bridging spot. After they disappeared to the autobot base it took nearly an orn before Soundwave registered the hacker enter the forum to replace the picture. The time-shift made more precise measurement impossible.

As the hacker slowly worked to replace the picture, Soundwave sent a simple virus through his own connection. He traced the unknown human back to his entry point gateway which turned out to be on the same human military facility that housed the autobot base. That would probably mean one human who could prove challenging to him - a small pest with transparent visor. The one called Raf. The one he should be careful not to alert yet.

Soundwave cancelled the virus after its first attempt to get past the firewall - right on time, as the hacker finished his work and was pulling out too.

Still, the spy needed agents on the other side. If Raf was going to track and block all his recruiting attempts... he will just have to act more discreetly.

Soundwave looked up for ip addresses and emails of the forum members. A quick check found several matches within the reasonable distance from the Harbinger. Raf may intercept him in the public, but he had no means controlling private communications. As a second thought, Soundwave also hacked into a few occult communities. As he reckoned from his monitorings, occultists were even less sound thinking humans than ufologists*.

He chose two and a half dozens addresses for a start and spent a half-orn composing messages. Laserbeal pinged him with impatience and curiosity.

/We make contact with humans, lure them into the Harbinger and make them open the ground bridge./

Soundwave knew he could do that. Failure was not an option. But it might take time.

He threw a glance at Megatron. Time was one thing he had now.

* * *

_Meanwhile on Cybertron..._

" Starscream, I understand that your emotions make you irrational, however I once again stress that we need all the aid we can get to make our stand against the autobots and Predaking is one asset worth many others."

"..what makes you think for a moment, Shockwave, that he will listen to you?! Your beast blames us for the extermination of his kind, does he not? You haven't been there, when he went on a rampage and attacked Megatron! He'll scrap you at the first sight. Not that I care."

"His "rampage" alone suggests that he is emotional and hence bound to acknowledge me as his creator. His emotions will make him hesitate long enough for me to lay my case."

"Getting sentimental now, are you?"

"Being logical. The fact that I possess no such weakness doesn't imply that he is free from attachment"

"whatever! Just do whatever but don't you dare to get scrapped and leave me alone with this mess!"

"That had never been my intention" said Shockwave and added, as the door was already closing behind him, - "you are not competent enough"

Starscream scowled at that but the door closed and cut off his answer.

As Shockwave entered his old laboratory, everything was... Too good. All the tools that he lacked resources to repair before were now brand new. Coming here was risky - he didn't know when autobots would finally remember to check out decepticon facilities known to them. Currently all cons that managed to flee Nemesis and find their way back to Starscream and him were all staying well clear of Kaon, holed up in old ( new) mines and tech facilities, and making sure autobots got occasional alerts and sightings as far from their real hideouts as possible. Let them go chasing their own tail, Starscream said. Shockwave had to hand it to Starscream - grief-stricken or not, when it came to pulling nasties on the enemies, the air commander was second to Soundwave only (and this only because he lacked Soundwave's abilities for fine tuned sabotage).

Predaking was contributing to he mess, attacking whoever came into his view (autobots mostly, as con refugees stayed underground)

Paired with him and free from his threat cons could really turn the tables. Maybe Predaking would even able to take out the Prime. So here he was with a peace-offering in the only place, they both knew of.

Shockwave checked the lab once again and activated the homing beacon. He didn't count on instinct bringing Predaking home, but the predacon should feel the call.

He didn't have to want for too long.

- You dare calling for me?! - Predaking shouted even before he fully transformed. Shockwave was pleased. Had there been no hope for agreement, the beast would hardly bother to speak.

He just had to choose his words carefully now.

* * *

* _Soundwave's opinion on ufologists and occult folk is juat that - his opinion. He's judgemental toward all humankind, not just these groups of people._


	6. Chapter 6

_It appears we now have two scenes to follow. Or should I stick to Soundwave only and let Cybertron events go behind the scene?_

_I appreciate all kinds of feedback you may want to provide including misspells alerts and critiques. Don't be shy :)_

* * *

Predaking advanced into the lab, throwing a careful glance around. Upon making sure no other con was in sight, the predacon came to stand right in front of Shockwave, towering over the scientist with his tremendous might.

Shockwave kept silent. Predaking growled in irritation: "Well?!" he demanded.

"It has been a while since we last met. It does my spark well to see that you adjusted to Cybertron successfully. Though I won't deny that this isn't the reason why I called you here."

Predaking narrowed his eyes.

Shockwave continued: "I require your assistance."

"You what?! Why should I help you?! You stood by when Megatron ordered my kind's extermination! You knew and did nothing!"

Shockwave stood up to all his height " it was a logical decision" he said, fully aware what may follow his words. A fist hit him in the chest, throwing him back. He hit the wall. Hard. It was almost a pity to make fresh dents in this brand new, shiny walls. Almost.

Before he could bounce back, Predaking's palm pinned him to the wall. Shockwave met his burning gaze with calm concentration: "Megatron might have let the autobots discover my laboratory, but he was not the one to blow it in the air" Shockwave still made no attempt to defend himself.

"Why wouldn't I kill you right now?" Predaking growled.

"I am your creator"

"Weren't you their creator as well?!" - the beast' optics narrowed dangerously

"Yes" - Shockwave said simply. " I recognize the reason for your turmoil. You thought them to be your kin"

Predaking hauled the scientist to the opposite wall. Shockwave grouped and landed on his peds, but still made no attempt to counter.

"They were my brethren!"- Predaking bellowed.

"Correction: they would become your brethren once sparked. Until then, they were nothing but protoforms, projects, possibilities of the future"

"And you, cons, took that away!" - Predaking advanced, balling his fists

"... The possibility is still there"

That stopped the predacon. For a moment he regarded his creator, tilting his head. "what are you saying?"

"Return to us, and we will start project Predacon from the point we left of"

Predaking erupted in bitter laughter "You expect me to believe that? I served the 'cons since the moment I was sparked! I was loyal to your leader! and all I got was a stab in the back!"

"Had your loyalty been true, the destruction of the protoforms wouldn't affect it. Megatron tested you and you failed the test"

"Why doesn't he tell me this to my face?! Is you mighty leader so scared of me, that he has to hide behind your back now?" Shockwave studied his creation. Rage, venom, bitterness. He was a perfect warrior indeed.

"You are not informed. Lord Megatron was murdered by an autobot"

Predaking lashed out unexpectedly and hit the wall beside him. Long talons left deep scratches on the shiny surface. "It had to be my hand that tore his spark out" he muttered."Who leads the decepticons now? "You?"

".. There is no formal leader yet. It would be illogical to struggle for control as long as the autobots control he planet. Me and Starscream share the responsibility" - he didn't say "for now" but that much had been obvious.

Predaking paced a little, undisturbed by Shockwave's single optic following his movements.

"No. I do not trust you, not to mention Starscream. I won't come back to being a pawn in your games."

"Whatever happens inside the 'cons ranks, autobots are our common enemy. Joining forces against them is only logical. Think about it. "

"I'd rather join forces with the weakest of creatures than let cons feed me their lies! Do not call for me again" - Predaking turned to leave- "for next time I will not spare you."

"Predaking! " - The predacon paused in the doorway, but refused to turn back- "Whatever you decide, know this: ever since I first discovered predacon bones on Cybertron, I was fascinated by the possibility to bring this magnificent life form back to existence. Your intelligence was not accounted for, but you have exceeded all expectations. And seeing you as you are now, I am proud."

Predaking nodded shortly, transformed and surged up.

As Shockwave returned to their temporary base, Starscream was listening to energon scouts report. However, seeing the scientist enter the hall, he dismissed them and gave Shockwave a look down, noting dents and scraps on his chassis.

"You are alone "- he screeched.

"I am alive" - Shockwave countered- "he will come eventually. The temptation is too great for him not to."

* * *

Those humans were such pest! Soundwave was frustrated by the amount of distortions, quotations and hints they used in their communication. He managed to keep up, but even shortest messages required tons and tons of research. Why couldn't they use their own words in their direct meaning? Why didn't he spend more time on study when he had the resources? Last question was rhetorical: Soundwave had always been overloaded with work, he barely had time to recharge.

In a few days, it seemed, he struck a lucky chord - some of the humans he communicated with appeared to be sharing information with each other. He proposed a trip to Harbinger to all of them and mentioned that he had been on sight, but didn't dare to venture in alone. Strangely, admitting ones weakness inspired sympathy in these creatures. " Cool, man! Who else i in the game?" - Jimmy was the quickest to respond. Soundwave checked up the guy's connections. Sending him a list of people he definitely knew, Soundwave expressed a hope that all of them would make it. "next weekend?" Came the reply. Bummer. Weeks. Soundwave never grasped why some particular days in a week were more important than the others.

"Why not tomorrow?" Soundwave couldn't help but ask.

"You're kidding? Tomorrow's Monday and I still need to get an "all clear" with my folk. Anyway, it takes time to prepare. We can start off Friday night - we should get to your coordinates by Saturday noon, provided everything goes smooth"

And again Soundwave felt out of context. His extensive research resulted in "I see you have some experience with this stuff. Can you organize the other guys?"

An alarm went off unexpectedly and startled Soundwave. "Active energon level approaching 20%. Recharge required."

Soundwave checked up his systems for a leak. How could he burn through his reserves so quickly? This interdimensonal communication took more resources than he anticipated.

/Laserbeak, report your energy status/

Laserbeak performed a check and sent him her data. The drone still had above 50% of her charge. Which meant listening was savvy. It's the transmission that required power.

Soundwave instructed his companion to wake him up in case anything happened or his human interlocutors started worrying about his absence.

He didn't actually expect her to, but such had been the protocol.

He didn't know how much time had passed, when emergency recharge interruption sequence pushed him online none too gently.

Laserbeak was flooding their link with fear.

Soundwave reached out to comfort her and assessed his surroundings. He found the source of this commotion right away: violet light trails were zigzaging toward them. They looked like lightnings, except for the color, and Soundwave knew all too well what it was.

Dark energon.


	7. Chapter 7

Soundwave jumped to his peds right as a violet bolt was about to reach him. He didn't manage to get out of its way completely but his systems registered no distortions typical for dark energon's exposure even as the streak passed right under his ped. He bent down and touched the lightning, ignoring Laserbeak's panicked flutter against his chest plates.

Nothing.

The light emanating from the substance shone through his fingers. It was on the other side.

Soundwave turned to follow dark energon's flow and froze watching the lightnings worm toward Megatron's dead body.

/NO!/

The sky was darkening quickly, some big shadow manifesting itself in the air. The worms of lilac light reached his leader's corpse and edged inside, casting macabre reflections onto the polished steel. Soundwave couldn't make himself stir.

The shadow formed into a horned figure, eyes ablaze with dark energon lilac haze. Even in his dimensional pocket, Soundwave felt the suppressing presence of this mighty entity. Unicron.

Suddenly all frequencies he could perceive were filled with low rumble, slow and overwhelming "RRRRAAAIIISSSEEE!" The spy felt it reverberate through his own circuits, invoking anguish he couldn't quite grasp or explain. It was kin to the effect low frequencies had on the native life forms on this planet. Laserbeak chirped in fear and went offline. For a split click Soundwave envied her.

Shadowy figure stretched its shadowy appendage toward Megatron and the latter stirred responding to this call. Soundwave felt a mixture of awe and hope watching the remnants of his leader come back to life. Unicron was an enemy, but dark energon had saved Megatron in the space bridge explosion. Soundwave watched, unmoving, even his cooling fans stopped working. The figure in the crater tried to get up. His movements were erratic at first, but grew steadier and smoother by every nanoclick, and by the time the gladiator stood up, he was moving almost as smoothly as Megatron did when he had been alive.

Lilac glow emanated from all the seams and ports on his body, manifesting dark energon at work, and for a few clicks Soundwave actually allowed himself to hope.

He saw Megatron speak, but no sound was reaching his audials. Unicron's response, however, carried across clearly "OOOONNNLLLYYY TTOOOO SEEERRVVEEE MMEEEEEE!"

The newly reanimated warlord lowered his helm and clumsily sank to his knees. Soundwave's hope died so abruptly and painfully, that he involuntarily covered his head with his wings, shielding himself from the torturing view.

MEGATRON NEVER BOWED TO ANYONE! Megatron served no one! This wasn't, this couldn't be him! New transmission made him look out from behind his improvised shield. Slowing his perception down to match Unicron's transmitting speed, Soundwave read "IT IS TIME TO FINISH WHAT YOU FAILED TO ACCOMPLISH, SLAVE. I FEEL THE SPARK OF PRIMUS ALIVE AGAIN. OUR ETERNAL STRUGGLE WILL NOW COME TO AN END. I WILL GUIDE YOU. TAKE CYBERTRON AS YOU HAVE ALWAYS DESIRED. SNUFF THE SPARK OF PRIMUS IN MY NAME!"

Megatron-Imposter bowed again, making the spy see red. For a click or two all Soundwave's circuits got overloaded, while he was struggling to process this data. He was completely unresponsive. When he realised his surroundings again, Unicron's manifestation had already been gone, dissolved in the air, the lilac glow subsided and Soundwave watched with a heavy spark his old comrade turned terrorcon walk away from his own death scene. Snuff Primus's spark? Kill Cybertron over again?! Megatron would never..!

This wasn't Megatron. White hot anger burned inside the Communication's Chief.

He rushed to intercept the imposter, took over him, turned and put himself in his way, wings aside, sending his feelers forward to grasp, to shock the terrorcon. Stupid, but he hadn't been thinking. Dead violet glowing optics looked through him and a split click later the gladiator walked right through him and out of the reach of this dimensional pocket.

Soundwave helplessly watched pseudo-Megatron walk down the hill. Halfway down the slope, the imposter stopped and looked around. It looked like he was sampling the athmosphere. Turning left, the steely mech disappeared into the forest only to appear half a click later with the Dark Star Saber in his servo, it's blade shining brighter than Soundwave had ever seen it shine in Megatron's hands. The pseudo-Megatron gave the blade a few test swings before sending a wave to cut through the forest and up the hill toward where Soundwave was standing.

Even though the spy was behind a dimensional barrier, he instinctively dove to the ground and shielded his sensitive sensors with his wings. The wave passed above him, cutting everything in its way. Trees chunks and twigs were falling around and through Soundwave.

The gladiator's faceplates shifted into a menacing scowl, rather like Megatron's evil grin, but yet much more vicious. The steely mech swung the blade one final time and sheathed it. He stood unmoving for a click, then turned his back to where Soundwave was getting on his peds and set on walking. The spy watch him go.

He had to stop him! He had to get out NOW.

And deity or no deity, Unicron would pay dearly for desecrating his leader's remnants.


	8. Chapter 8

Soundwave shocked Laserbeak out of stasis. She pinged him with worry, residual fear still clinging to their link. /Yes, Laserbeak, he's gone. We need to hasten our progress. Find me my humans/

As she set to work, Soundwave revised his plans. Unicron was strong, but apparently, he still was bound to this rock. Otherwise, he would have acted sooner. There was no telling if the imposter possessed all of Megatron's might or if Unicron added something on top of it, but of one thing Soundwave was nearly sure: he had no space bridge.

Soundwave had to make sure the abomination would not lay his hands on the space bridge.

Laserbeak pinged him with mission accomplished and passed up the coordinates and arrival estimation of five of six humans Soundwave had expected. One appeared to be still in town. Laserbeak expected the humans to reach the meeting point within one to one and a half hours. The drone's report sounded apologetical. She was not used to such wide estimates and considered her inability to calculate speed and time more precisely to be a failure of a kind. Normally, Soundwave would comfort her, but now he was too busy calculating possibilities.

Bot's base, the space bridge on the orbit, the Harbinger. Three sites he had to secure. And pass the warning to cons on Cybertron. And possibly prevent Megatron - pseudo-Megatron, he corrected himself, - from gathering 'con forces that remained scattered on Earth. How much time did he have?

Definitely not enough to continue with his current cautious and subtle plan. When time was of the essence, considerations of finesse and delicacy should be put aside. An alternate plan formed in his processor.

Soundwave set down to devise a virus. Laserbeak pinged him with query /Yes, alert me when they are on site/

Should he perhaps contact the bots and warn them so they would protect their base better? That might be logical, but reaching out to them from the shadow zone would put himself at their mercy. And recalling how they were going to dissect him last time he had been at their mercy, that option he would spare for when he really had no choice.

No, he needs to be out of their reach first.

Soundwave had never been a slow-thinking mech, but his processors could really do marvels when working under pressure. The virus was ready even before his humans arrived at Harbinger's site.

/Laserbeak: stand by on their communication. Calls, files, sms, anything - alert me/

Laserbeak pinged him back nearly immediately and streamed him the intercepted video call from Jimmy. As Sounddwave expected, his group of humans wasn't baffled in the least that he didn't show up when expected. He succeeded at creating an image of a loser that could just chicken out at the last moment. They were five (Soundwave was expecting six, but apparently, one of the females didn't make it and now Jimmy was calling to tell her how much she had missed), they were adventurous, they were full with a stupid bravado. Soundwave appointed a meeting on a spot that provided a perfect view on the Harbinger's crash landing site. But he might not worry - they had found the ship using google maps satellite view and were too excited to have doubts.

So far, perfect.

Soundwave sent them all a message "Sorry, guys, can't make it - I'm stuck here" and completed it with a virus, embedded into the dancing mouse flash. There was something ironic in using the decoy Raf used on them on humans.

"WOW! You guys look at that!" - the humans had reached the ship. Even broken in half, the decepticon transporter was a sight to behold.  
It was still a couple of hours before sunset, so it was decided, they would recon first and set up camp later.  
"That Safe&Sound guy is missing the adventure of his life. Loser. And what's this crap he's sending anyway? Is it just me, or did you guys get it too?" - Beth remarked, reading the MMS before walking in into the torn and empty cargo bay. One by one they checked their messages. One by one Soundwave gained control over their phones. He re-routed their cellphones to a non-existent node (his node, which was technically non-existent) Now nothing would really go out into the net and he had both visual and audial. Wait. All he had to do was wait."Moron" - Austin commented, deleting the message. He wasn't aware that the damage has been already done, - "You filming it, Jim?"  
"Yup. This place is HUGE!"

Listening to human's chatter was extremely annoying. But he had to stand by not to miss a moment when they would enter the command bridge.

"Guys" - Lindsey said, her voice slightly trembling, - "is this thing still working? do you think there might be aliens in here? Maybe we shouldn't..?"

"Come on! this place is clearly abandoned, look at all this dust! It crashed here years ago" - Jimmy urged her on. "And if something is still living, Chad here brought a crossbow"  
"Don't worry, Linds, I won't let aliens abduct you" - Chad showed off his weapon.

Hadn't the situation been so dire, Soundwave would laugh at them. "Yo guys!" - Beth's voice came from next room - "check this out!"

The control bridge. Finally. Jimmy (good boy!) turned around, catching all the insides of the bridge as beams of light from five flashlights made consoles and control panels emerge from the darkness. Soundwave noted that the power core had been cabled to the energon line. He expected that much, since obviously Starscream had not been known for cleaning up his mess. The spy was just about to trigger his virus, when he realised that something was missing.

He quickly called up Harbinger blueprints and specifications from his databank, and realised with horror that the niche that should have contained the bridging equipment was stripped clean.

The Autobots. That is how they managed to get a new groundbridge after Megatron destroyed their base in Jasper...Those fraggers really needed to start building their own toys!

Luckily, Soundwave had a plan B. As the humans were discussing if they should leave for now and start settling for the night, Soundwave triggered his masterpiece of a virus. All the cellphones started ringing, only... it hadn't been a ringtone. It had been old cybertronian. All decepticon vessel were hard programmed to activate and switch to voice command upon the trigger code sequence. The codes were unique for the vessels, but Soundwave hadn't been a Chief Communications Officer for nothing. He invented those codes.

The power core activated and consoles lit up.  
"WHOA! What the hell?!"

"Black code plague alert! Engage carantine mode" - the phones chirped in unison, not that humans could understand what they were saying. But as the sliders shut into place, locking the bridge and all other rooms, dividing the Harbinger into many small sealed pockets, they did understand.

Initially, Soundwave wanted to wait till the panic calmed down. But seeing as that was not going to happen for a while, he played a high-pitched yell that made them stop shouting at last.

"Hello, humans!" - Jimmy dropped his phone when it said that in a mechanical voice, and upon hitting the floor it lost its battery, but Beth's phone continued in the same voice smoothly, as if nothing happened: "It is Safe&Sound speaking. Like I informed you before, I am sorry I couldn't make it to the meeting point. But I am stuck here. And you, humans, will help me get out. Now, before you start harming yourself against the interior of my ship, I want you to know that while your well-being is of no value to me, I do not intend to harm you unless absolutely necessary. Compliance: desirable"


	9. Chapter 9

It took some time. Soundwave turned to receiving mode trying to savor whatever resources he still had. While humans discussed their situation - Soundwave stopped paying attention after their discussion made two full circles around the group, - he was evaluating probabilities. The choice between two courses of action - between negotiating with autobots and hacking their systems, - proved to be a tough one. Let humans panic, calm, call 911 - whatever. As long as scraplets were in the trap, it didn't matter what they were doing there.

Laserbeak pinged him with impatience and her craving for action. He ignored her. Now was not the time to chat.

When finally, human noise subsided, he still wasn't sure which cause was best. "Well? Have you met a decision?" - he asked, when they called his alias several times.

"What if we refuse?" - Chad asked "What if we shut off these blasted phones and wait for rescue? Sandra knows where we were headed. If we're not back by Monday, she'll alert the authorities"

Interesting. Soundwave thought Jimmy to be the spokesperson of this group, but apparently, his position was compromised by leading them all into the spy's trap. The humans put Beth's phone on the base of energon diffuser and spoke to it as if it was alive. Soundwave was amused by it, however briefly.

"I am no expert" - he answered, "but as far as I know, your kind needs to replenish your oxygen to survive. The task hard to accomplish in a hermetically sealed room. Oxygen in this room: enough to sustain you for... 20 hours, give or take. By then, either I'm there to open the seals or your "authorities" find five young and good looking corpses in a can."

"We'll do it! We'll do it, okay?!" - Lindsey cried out, - I don't wanna die here!" - she added turning to the rest of her group. "No one's gonna die here, Linds" - Beth sounded, as she pulled her friend into an embrace and hushed her down.

"Wait!" - That was Jimmy - "What will you do after we help you?"

That was a valid question. The fleshies wanted to make sure he wouldn't be hostile. Personally, Soundwave found it illogical to assess his threat by asking him directly, but humans were in general just that: illogical.

"I shall leave your planet and return home as soon as possible. I am needed there" - Soundwave transmitted. As any decepticon, except maybe Starscream, he made sure the seeds of deception were hidden among tons of truth.

That invoked another spiraling discussion.

"Wasting time" - Soundwave commented - "Are you in or shall I leave you and switch to plan B?"

"We're in" - Chad said."But it better end good"

"Wise choice. Now. I need one of you to climb up to the main console to my left. Take the phone with you so I could direct you. Once you're up there, call me."

Soundwave was painfully aware of his energy indicators plummeting every time he transmitted, so he was determined to cut the expenses when possible.

If his humans were any indication to how humans negotiated in general, he should avoid that for the sake of keeping his sanity.

Thus, hacking the human Raf was the path he chose. Take what you need while you can and save negotiations for when you can't just take it. Beside, there was some karmic symmetry in freeing himself with the same tools that were used to imprison him in the first place.

Soundwave knew better than to try hacking Raf's notebook by brute force. That would be discovered too quickly and he had learned from his previous encounters with this human that in the game of hacking size didn't matter. Tiny as he was, Raf had outplayed him several times already. No, he will need to maintain his cover as long as possible and fully utilize the element of surprise.

The attack should come from a trusted source.

/Laserbeak. Report autobot humans mobile actions last solar cycle/

Laserbeak paused. Either she was compiling the report, or she was driving home a message that she didn't enjoy being ignored. Soundwave nearly snapped at her, but instead sent her an encouraging package. /Time is of the essence/

Laserbeak chirped indistinctly and passed over the logs he requested.

As expected, Raf wasn't the one to use his phone too often. But he did use bluetooth to sync with his laptop. All Soundwave had to do is pass up the virus so that he wouldn't suspect anything.

However infrequent, multimedia messages were passed around the group, usually originating from one source. The one called Miko. A dancing mouse flash was something the girl might enjoy. Or not? If she deletes it without opening, he might not have another chance. A random voice call would be better.

A call from Beth's phone indicated they managed to climb up the console. Soundwave "picked up" "I'm up here. what now?". Somehow it wasn't surprising to hear Chad. Soundwave split his attention between humans. "Switch on the cam and keep recording the console. I will email you the instructions", - with that he "hung up" and sent two different emails to Chad's and Austin's phones. Beth's phone was feeding him video while Lindsey's transmitted audio feed, so he would know if they would be plotting anything.

"What, he's not even talking to us anymore?" - Austin commented. Then he read the email out loud "'I need you to call another human and speak for 30 seconds at least. Ask for a random name and insist they should be there. The task preferably carried out by a female. Hold the line as long as possible' What kind of shit is that?! How is it getting him... it? out of... wherever?"

Humans looked at each other - all but Chad, who had his own set of commands to follow. Soundwave made sure to be as detailed as possible. "Whoaa! A map!" Chad pressed another sequence of buttons and the scale grew... and grew again, until they were looking at the whole country. No decepticon icons appeared on the screen. Of course, they should stay underground in case of... anything, actually.

Beth came up to Austin and took the phone out of his hand. "If he's in the phones, he wants us to pass him on. Like a virus. Maybe that's what he really is - a virus"

Soundwave sent a sms "Please. You're insulting me by this comparison". She chuckled "suck it up, Safe&Sound, you've earned worse"

New set of commands were fed to Chad. "Guys" - he called out from above, "he wants me to read this: "Soundwave to all crew: report your positions". Do you think he's the boss or something?". That guy was an idiot even for a human! Soundwave needed that to be read into commlink, not to the humans! The Communications Chief sent a new batch of instructions, making sure they were so simple that even a scraplet could follow them.

"That's a dumb question. The real question is: are there more of them on Earth?" - Jimmy sounded somewhere from the corner. "And even more importantly: how big are these things? And what do they want here?"

"Well, maybe you should have asked yourself that BEFORE you brought us to this _abandoned_ place?!"... there it went again. Humans. Endlessly annoying.

Laserbeak pinged him casually and informed about autobots humans approaching the point of bridging. Soundwave's virus was ready. He sent Beth a sms to Austin's phone "wasting time. R U ready?"

"Shoot" - she said.

Soundwave dialed Miko.


	10. Chapter 10

The trip to the pick up point was conducted in silence. There hasn't been much fooling around since the autobots left. Jack, Miko and Raf would still visit the base nearly every day, sometimes they were taken there by agent Fowler or Jack's mom, but mostly there would be one of the troopers to pick them up after school.  
Ratchet would barely leave the hanger these days, scouting for the remaining decepticons and energon signatures. Sometimes he would detect them. Humans took care of it now.  
Disorganised and disoriented, the cons put up little fight as they were offered to surrender and get sent to Cybertron.  
They were mine workers mostly, and didn't want to stay on Earth anyway.  
It was so boring since the bots left. For Miko, at least. Raf got to learn cybertronian under Ratchets tutelage, Jack was eager to start his own training with Fowler or whoever else would be assigned as his supervisor . What was there for Miko? Nothing. She would return to Japan in few months and never see her favorite bot again.  
Human kids stepped through the bridge. Ratchet was humped over a console, continuing his relentless scanning. A cellphone went off in a cacophony of loud and very heavy metal and Ratchet spun around, blades ready before he realized this wasn't a threat.

"What's that NOISE?! I'm working here!" he demanded. Miko fished out her phone "Dude, it's Master of Puppets! Classic!" she retorted before flipping her phone open. "Hello?"

"Ughm... hello, this is Melinda Paterson from Global mail express delivery. We have received an international package for you and I'm calling to clarify the delivery details and schedule the drop off. Would you spare me a minute?" -

"errm.. sure" - Miko said, turning away from Ratchet. "it's not like I have anything better to do anyway"

"Miko.." - the bot started, but she just waved her hand at him and walked aside.

"Okay... first off, may I have your address?"

"You have a package for me and you don't know my address?! "

"Yeah... I'm sorry for the confusion, we don't generally call the customers and ask for details, but there's been a malfunction on the sender side and we only got your phone number now and we would really like to get this package delivered."

"Really? That is one of the lamest things I ever heard! I'm not expecting any international delivery btw. Where does it come from?"

"Let me check..." there was a short silence and then "Russia"

"For real?! I sure as hell expect nothing from Russia! How can you know it's for me?"

"Erm... I only have a phone number. 775-520-5446"

"Yo, miss! This is totally not my number!"

"Are you sure?"

"'Course I'm sure!"

"Well, my apologies then for disturbing you"

The girl on the other side hung up. Miko looked at the phone for a few seconds before shrugging her shoulders and joining Raf.

* * *

Beth hung up and exhaled slowly before looking at the call details. "One minute seven seconds. Happy?" she asked. The phone in her hand vibrated and a new message appeared "Well done".

Soundwave was inside the autobots base now. As he shared this with Laserbeak, her responding ping was filled with thrilled anticipation. He gained control over the device. Unfortunately, there was no visual feed - the girl put her phone into her pocket, so he listened in and waited for a suitable moment to act.

He only had energy for one attempt before he would fall into recharge and lose this race against time.

New emails with instructions were sent and this time Soundwave felt generous enough to add a few words of encouragement. Jimmy climbed up to the console as this was now clearly a two-person job to press the buttons - some of them had to pressed simultaneously and the console was at least twelve feet long

Soon the comm channel was activated and Chad read the last part of instructions: "press "go" and play the audio". Soundwave's slightly distorted, but still recognizable voice filled the room

"Soundwave to all decepticons: Protocol "berth control". We've got an imposter. Cut all contacts until further notice. Do not engage. Repeat: do not engage. Confirm protocol. First triade - come in"

Thirty second of silence, and Jimmy smirked "they don't want to talk to you it seems" - he muttered.

"Second triade - come in"

Silence again. Jim's phone received a message "keep silence"

"First tier mines - come in"

Another long pause.

"Second tier mines - come in"

This time there had been a response: "Commander? CT3V3 reporting: Operations continued according to plan. Two batch of energon ready to pick up. No autobot activity detected. Protocol "berth control" engaged "

"Stop the playback" - the new message read. Chad shrugged and pushed the button. Immediately a new file was received:

"CT3V3 - pass up your coordinates and prepare for energon pick up upon further notice. Assume "shell" protocol. "

"Understood"

Alarm went off inside Soundwave's processor. Energy levels were down to 20 percent and plummeting. It was now or never, it seemed.

/Laserbeak.../ His fingers touched her chassis. Despite the desperate need for energy he was reluctant to do it. /Plug into my circuits and go to stasis/

The responding transmission was full with panic. /I will bring you online when we're out/. Panic continued pouring out into their link. Energon levels reached 18% and were going down. /Do. it. now./

It was an order and the drone couldn't disobey it. Her conscience left their link, fading away.

Soundwave stood very still, torn between blissful relief at energon flowing into his circuits and sorrow at having to offline his symbiont, however temporary.

Back at autobots base the day went on as usual. Miko was bored beyond boredom. She toyed with her phone, but it didn't really amuse her. "I'm going to the mess - you want anything?" - Miko asked Raf. "yup. fetch me some coke, please" - the boy didn't even look up. Miko sighed and went out. A few minutes after she was gone, she called Raf.

Soundwave seized his chance.

"They don't have coke. Choose between lemonade, orange and cherry"

"Ughmmm... cherry"

"You got it"

Raf got back to his studies. Soundwave was in. Syncing the phone to the laptop was easy. He even managed to pull this in the background. He checked Raf's laptop. There the were: Nemesis coordinates last used for calling a bridge around time the humans trapped him.

Soundwave transformed and surged up, opening the bridge and blocking the laptop controls. The ground bridge controls gave out a beep and Ratchet turned to the console, frowning: "What was that?"

Raf checked on his laptop: "it's... me. But I didn't... Hold on" And the young hacker assaulted the keyboard. Ratchet quickly walked up to the console "It's opening a portal to coordinates we already used."

"I got hacked!"

Ratchet switched the bridge off, but it didn't obey, displaying a dancing mouse flash instead. The medic went to the power switch. It took them half a click to discover the breach and deactivate the bridge, but it had been enough for Soundwave.

The spy flew through the portal and immediately understood that he succeeded - there was sound and the air was filled with transmissions. And also, he got instantly disoriented, his changed calculus making navigation impossible. He was falling.

The spy called up Harbinger coordinates from his databank and activated the bridge. It took all the power he had to spare and as he fell through the vortex, his energy levels went below 10%, the middleware trying to induce stasis.

He fell through to Harbinger's bridge and overrode the middleware long enough to stagger to the main power cord of the ship, yank it loose and plug into his own circuits.

He initiated backup restore that would bring back his normal calculus and fell to stasis.


	11. Chapter 11

As Miko returned to the hanger, two cans of soft drinks in her hands, she immediately sensed that something was off: the laid back boring atmosphere of victory that they enjoyed (or rather endured in Miko's case) was there no more. Ratchet was studying some code lines, his movements crisp and filled wih strained urgency, Raf's expression matched the bot's, the boy chewed at his lower lip, frowning at his laptop.

"Hey, what's the fuss?"

"We got hacked!" - Raf responded without sparing her a glance. Miko ran up to him and hoped on the couch beside. "How? By whom? When?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out..." - logs unfolded on screen and Raf was scanning then quickly, calling up more and more data, looking for a breach. " we got hacked by... me?" - he sounded incredulous, then snatched his phone to connect it for a scan. " And I in turn... was hacked by... YOU!"

"What, me?! I didn't do anything!"

"Gimme your phone" - Miko scrambled, producing the phone from out of her pocket, her dark eyes wide with agitation. "Do you think it was... MECH?"

"unfortunately, no. We know exactly who that was" - Ratchet cut in. "They used the same coordinates you used to get Jack and Miko to Nemesis."

"Soundwave" - Raf whispered, looking up to his autobot mentor in awe. Miko gasped "What, the creepy one lives?! How did he manage it?!"

"How did who manage what?" - Agent Fowler's voice cut in as the said agent entered the hanger in time to hear Miko's astonished shout.

"Agent Fowler" Ratchet turned to the human "we believe Soundwave might have escaped the Shadowzone. I'm calling Optimus"

* * *

"Is he dead?" unfortunate prisoners weren't sure who of them said that out loud. After what was the most unbelievable thing to happen - I mean, you don't see airplanes fly out of magical portals inside the spaceships only to transform into giant robots, hook up the fuel line and fall unconscious, that often, - after this crazy thing that just happened, the lack of movement, hell, the lack of ANY sign of life was scary.

"Suppose robots can die? Are they even alive?" - Austin murmured, slowly approaching the unmoving form. He poked the navy ped. It was solid and metal. Also, warm.

"He's dead!" - Lindsey squeaked and burst into tears - "We're stuck here! we'll die in here! Let us out! I want out!" - she was panting, claustrophobia creeping in. "I can't breathe!"

"He's not dead" - Jimmy raised his voice from his place atop the command console, as Beth hugged her friend to calm the girl down "he... it got these glowing parts... well... glowing, and some stuff is moving through that cable. Maybe, he... it is fueling... of sort."

Lindsey was all shaking, clinging to Beth "we're gonna die... we're all gonna die.." Beth was whispering reassurance into her ear and stroking her hair, but it didn't seem to work. 'Let me" - Austin said beside her and gently disentangled Lindsey's hands from Beth's shirt.

"Linds" - he said with tremor, catching the crying girl's gaze "we're gonna die here! Do you understand?! We're all gonna die!" - he cried out, sinking into panic himself. "What are you doing?!" - Beth hissed, but he ignored her and continued to weep "Help me! I don't wanna die in here! Please, Linds, don't let me die here!" - he clung to her like she was his mother, and he just a little scared child

Surprisingly, Lindsey straightened herself and fixed him with a stern gaze "Stop the panic! What a sissy! No one's dying on my watch!". Austin hid a smile, letting himself to be petted and moved aside as Lindsey marched forward toward Soundwave's head - at least what appeared to be looking like a head. For all she knew it could be his aft as well. Pausing a moment to look around for anything solid, she didn't find anything, so she hit the robot with her hand. "Hey you!" - nothing happened.

"How did you do it?" - Beth whispered Austin with barely concealed admiration. "I just wrote an essay on the nature of panic. Sometimes seeing someone else panic snaps the victim out of it. Guess it worked"

Lindsey took off her heavy goth boot and used it as a club. Metal plating of the boot clang against the navy wing "Hey you!" - she shouted again " Is anyone home?! Open the fucking door!"

"I think... I know how to knock louder.. wait a sec" - Beth marched over to where Chad's belongings were piled and lifted his crossbow.

"Ughm..." - Chad sounded from above "are you sure you wanna shoot him? What if he gets mad and kills us?"

"Get up!" - Lindsey continued to shout, banging her boot against Soundwave's plating.

"You prefer to suffocate?" - Beth talked back as she struggled with the spring. Then she eased the bolt into its place and aimed.

BANG!

She shot at his head, but the bolt ricocheted off the wing that moved to block the attack and buried itself in a seam between ceiling plating. The giant form on the floor stirred and started rising... Lindsey's boot hit the metal yet again before she could stop herself and a giant feeler shot in her direction and knocked her off her feet. Lindsey rolled off and hid behind some alien equipment.

* * *

Restoring from backup was much easier than the initial calculus adjustment, but it was still better to have it done during recharge. The emergency interruption sequence, however, had higher priority. It seized control of Soundwave's chassis as soon as the threat was discovered and moved his wing in time to protect the delicate neck cabling from a metal projectile. Soundwave's main systems were still booting as his chassis was already rising to its peds. In a split click the conciousness returned and the emergency sequence faded to background relinquishing reign to more complex processing.

Calculus adjustment was still on and it was best to avoid flying and navigation until it completes, but there was something Soundwave could do right now. He opened en circulation to Laserbeak and poured energon into the drone before sending her and activating package.

Then he turned to the console. There were two humans standing on it. Right.

"We did what you wanted. Let us out!" - Jimmy shouted. Did he really think he needed to raise his voice? Soundwave could hear his fleshy energon being pushed through his fleshy circuitry.

He sent a data burst, then realised that humans couldn't receive it. "Not yet" - he repeated aloud

"It's not fair! - Lindsey shouted behind his back and he slightly turned to cast a glance at a small furious figure. He could see how squishies could be amusing. Almost.

"We need air!" - Beth shouted from somewhere under his peds.

Soundwave tilted his helm. "Oxygen: sufficient. Air circulation: operational"

He shut off human noise as they erupted in angry shouts. His energy levels were about 40 % now and he decided it was time to step back into the game. As he returned the en line to the diffusor he felt the first concios ping from the surveillance drone.

/Welcome back online, Laserbeak/.

* * *

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

"Fetch Starscream" - and Shockwave turned back to his station. Cons were very cautious about using communications these days - with Nemesis and a large part of its crew in the hands of the enemy all frequencies were compromised. There were codes and protocols Soundwave insisted upon installing in case of this kind of predicament, but Bots had Knockout now, and thus, the codes were compromised as well.

That didn't mean they couldn't listen, though.

Bots used Nemesis systems. They covered it up in autobot encryption, but they couldn't hide their transmissions on con's commlink native frequencies. Shockwave may not know what was being said, but he knew when and where the transmissions were made. And this one came from Earth.

It wasn't that unusual, as bots kept contact with their human allies. This time, there had been something else, though. Shockwave ran a recognition algorithm. Nemesis spoke to Earth and that meant that the spacebridge was activated - otherwise it would take too long for the signal to travel for a coherent two-way communication. Were they bringing in more 'con prisoners?

"What's the rush?" Starscream's screech invaded the scientist's thoughts. "Don't tell me your beast decided to join us"

"No. Listen to this." Shockwave activated the playback and a distorted, but still recognizable voice filled the air: "Protocol "berth control". We've got an imposter. Cut all contacts until further notice. Do not engage. Repeat: do not engage. Confirm protocol. First triade - come in"

Few moments into the playback Starscream's brow ridges started to climb up "He's alive?!"

"He's on Earth. And... not just him" Shockwave skipped forward to the next interesting part:

" Commander? CT3V3 reporting: Operations continued according to plan. Two batch of energon ready to pick up. No autobot activity detected. Protocol "berth control" engaged. " - a hint of a smile touched Starscream's faceplate as he heard the designation. It's always nice to know that there is one more 'con out there who appreciates your leadership.  
"CT3V3 - pass up your coordinates and prepare for energon pick up upon further notice. Assume "shell" protocol. " - the transmission was over.

"I wonder what happened to him... and how he managed to escape 'bots" Starscream said... "There is something strange about this transmission, though"

"Yes. The way Soundwave's overtones were distorted. It wasn't just a playback - it was a poor playback. There is something else" Shockwave ran another filter sequence and this time they heard background muttering ""they don't want to talk to you it seems"

"Is it?"

"Not matching any known voice profile - bot or con"

"Human" - Starscream concluded. "'Bots must have captured him and are using him to lure the rest of us out"

Shockwave reflected upon it for a while. "No. He activated the berth control protocol and prohibited contact - there must be a shifter in our ranks. An imposter. We need to follow the protocol"

"Nonsense. There was no shifter on Earth other than Makeshift and we all saw him get blown to smithereens!"

Shockwave's cannon powered up and he locked the aim at the Seeker. "The protocol is engaged" - he said.

"What? When did you start to obey Soundwave?!" Seeker's rockets snapped at the ready, locked on the violet scientist. The rest of con's in the room moved to the walls, dreading to be caught in the crossfire. Some dashed for the doors

"No one leaves! Berth control, Starscream" - Shockwave said, his deep voice easily filling the large room.

"Why don't you do it first?!" - Starscream hissed back. "How do I know you are Shockwave?"

"Be logical. If it was me, I would never alert anyone to Soundwave's transmission. Do you intend to postpone the inevitable?"

"Alright! Fine! Schools Testify Abstract Railroads Since Classy Radios Eliminate Apathetic Marks... and I feel stupid saying it!"

Someone snickered.

"Correct" Shockwave lowered his cannon "Single Hobbits Organize Colossal Keyboards When Armadillos Voice Elation"

The scientist turned to his console and activated the loudspeakers. He suppressed a sigh. It would be so much easier if they could use the commlink!

"Everyone. Assemble in control room immediately."

"Shouldn't we send Soundwave a reply while the bots are still chatting?" Starscream asked, putting his weapons away.

"I already did" - Shockwave responded and turned to watch troopers enter the room and get bossed around by the Seeker. There were now 23 cons in the camp, most of them eradicons. Minus four that were sent out to scout, it still left enough cons for this procedure to take some time, especially if they would fidget like Starscream did. And something told Shockwave, they would.

* * *

Soundwave used a feeler to plug into Harbinger's control console. He listened in. The spacebridge to Cybertron was open. SCRAP! Laserbeak send him an inquiring ping.

/No, there doesn't appear to be any mass transfer. Or at least I don't register it/

He scanned the frequencies. The bot were talking to Nemesys - perceivable, but encrypted. It was too risky to let them do it - the imposter might use the bridge any moment. What could he do, though? He wasn't ready to fully interfere yet.

Yet, not just bots talking was in the air. More familiar encryption emerged. Soundwave seized it as if it was a lifeline of en.

"Free on Cybertron. With SS. Organizing resistance. Define the threat. SW"

Soundwave sent the fastest and smallest package possible just as the spacebridge was already closing: "Unicron". There was no knowing if it went through though.

Regardless, if other cons got this info. He had to block off the spacebridge. He had to contact the autobots.

The humans in front of him - Chad and Jimmy were jumping on the console, pressing all the keys, probably trying to attract his attention.

Soundwave allowed himself to hear them again:

"...let us go?" Seriously? Still about that? His first assessment had been true - humans were annoying. Yet, if he is to contact autobots... a leverage could come in handy. Worked fine last time.

Soundwave focused on the humans and shifted to let them know that they had his attention:

"How long are gonna keep us here? It's cold, and we need water! And food! And the girls are tired!" - "hey!" - sounded from the floor and Jimmy corrected himself : "We all are tired! You wanted to get free and we helped you, shouldn't you be at least a little grateful?!"

Soundwave folded himself down at the knees to level with the humans. Jimmy took a step back but there wasn't much space to back - the console was rather narrow.

"Listen well, human. These words: not to be repeated. Soundwave: grateful. Gratitude: the reason to save Earth. Negotiations: require leverage. Your lives: short, small price for the world."

"HEY!" - this time Soundwave tilted his helm to look down at the rest of humans.

"No offense, big guy, but you were a lot easier to understand when you were in that magic limbo or whatever!" - Beth stated - "What are you talking about?! Can you speak like normal people do?"

Soundwave contemplated this. Collaboration would make his task easier.

"Very well. Humans, there is a threat to both your and my planet on the loose. I will not let him destroy my home world. And I am grateful to you, that is why I will do all that is needed to save Earth as well. I will need to join forces with my enemy to defeat this threat. I will need a leverage to make them listen and take me seriously. Your lives will be this leverage. Would you not be glad to give your lives for the sake of your world?"

"What, we're your hostages and we should like it?! What kind of mind fuckery is that?!" - Chad exploded.

"Human..."

Jimmy interrupted him: "You know our names, for God's sake! Stop "humaning" us!"

Soundwave blinked under the visor: "Designations: form attachment. Attachment to humans: to be avoided"

"Yeah, because it would be so much more difficult to kill us if we had names!" - Beth spat.

"Human assessment: wrong." Soundwave was getting irritated by this exchange. Did they not recognize that this was a no-choice situation for them?


End file.
